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Getting Ahead of the Curve:

Proactive AI Teaching

Emilia McGuckin

Senior Instructor, ELA

Presentation Link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

MICHIGANVIRTUAL.ORG/AI/SUMMIT

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Key Takeaways

Participants will leave with the tools to…

    • Proactively integrate AI into classroom practice
      • Identify ways to set clear expectations, model ethical use, and guide students in responsible engagement with AI tools.
    • Navigate challenges and misconceptions with confidence
      • Recognize AI’s limitations—like bias, errors, and environmental impact—and use them as teaching opportunities rather than obstacles.
    • Build sustainable, integrity-focused learning environments
      • Apply strategies that promote academic honesty, reduce grading stress, and empower students to use AI thoughtfully and transparently.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Hi there!

  • Metro Detroit educator passionate about sparking curiosity and confidence in every learner

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  • Ten-year veteran at Michigan Virtual, experienced in online and hybrid teaching and designing dynamic online courses

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  • Educator for SNHU and freelance curriculum and business communications creator

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  • Equity advocate exploring how AI and emerging technologies can level the playing field and expand opportunities for all students

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  • Committed to equity, innovation, and amplifying student voice in every classroom experience

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At A Glance

    • Reactive vs. Proactive Teaching
    • Six Strategies
      • Clear, Transparent Expectations
      • Model Ethical Use
      • AI-Integrated Assessments
      • AI Literacy Mindset
      • Process vs. Product
      • Monitor Wisely
    • Consider This
    • Resources and Questions

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Reactive vs. Proactive Teaching

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Why?

Waiting for kids to mess up is counterproductive to your goals.

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Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Reactive vs Proactive Teaching

Reactive Teaching

    • Responds thoughtfully to real-time challenges
      • Uses unexpected AI use as a teachable moment rather than just a rule violation
    • Adapts instruction based on observation
      • Revises lessons or assessments after seeing how students interact with AI.
    • Focuses on enforcement and detection
      • May create a culture of uncertainty or mistrust

Proactive Teaching

    • Anticipates AI’s classroom impact
      • Builds expectations, policies, and discussions into the curriculum
    • Designs assignments with AI in mind
      • Guides students toward ethical and meaningful use before issues arise.
    • Empowers students through AI literacy
      • Teaches critical evaluation, responsible use, and digital citizenship skills

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Six Strategies

For Proactive Teaching

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Set Clear, Transparent Expectations

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Why?

Clear guidelines reduce confusion, pressure, and misinformation.

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Set Clear, Transparent Expectations

    • Set clear boundaries from the beginning
      • Students, parents, and stakeholders understand what acceptable AI use looks like and can ask questions before getting started.
    • Build a culture of transparency
      • Encourages open dialogue rather than driving kids to sneak around.
    • Provide a reference point
      • Refer to your guidelines frequently; use them if issues arise later on.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Set Clear, Transparent Expectations

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What does this look like?

    • Classroom guidelines posted in class or online
    • Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light model
    • Creating guidelines together

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Model Ethical Use

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Why?

Students learn how to use AI by watching how you use it.

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Model Ethical Use

    • Demonstrate responsible AI integration:
      • Show students how to use AI as a learning partner, not a shortcut, by modeling curiosity, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making in real contexts.
    • Build digital literacy skills:
      • Teach students how to evaluate, fact-check, and refine AI-generated content so they can recognize bias, inaccuracies, and limits within digital tools.
    • Reinforce academic integrity
      • You set the expectations for how professionals can, and should, use AI ethically and responsibly.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Model Ethical Use

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What Does this look like?

    • Create Artificial Intelligence Disclosure Statement
      • Mrs. M’s AI Pledge
    • Create Citations
    • Model Prompt Engineering Live
      • 5S Model Prompt Engineering

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AI-Integrated Assessments

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Why?

Preventing misuse doesn’t mean banning AI; it means designing smarter tasks.

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AI-Integrated Assessments

    • Pencil and paper is not the (only) answer
      • Avoiding AI may widen the gap between academic learning and real-world technology fluency and opportunity.
    • AI-Augmented tasks
      • Design assignments so students engage with AI intentionally for defined purposes
    • AI-Resistant tasks
      • Create assessments with tasks that make AI use ineffective or obvious-- personal reflection, local relevance, in-class experiences, multimedia production, oral defense, etc.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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AI-Integrated Assessments

What Does this look like?

    • Localize and personalize
    • AI-Augmented tasks
      • 3 AI Integrated Lessons
    • Beyond the Essay

Voices in Our Community

In New Kid, Jordan navigates the tension between different cultural and social worlds. Think about a time in your own life or community when someone experienced a similar sense of being “in between” or needing to adapt to different spaces.

    • Describe this moment or situation — it could come from your own experience, a family member, a local news story, or something we discussed in class.
    • Explain how it connects to one or more themes from New Kid (such as belonging, identity, or code-switching).
    • Include one direct quotation from our class discussion or the text that helps you frame your reflection.
    • Conclude with how this idea relates to your local community — what could schools or organizations in our area learn from this?

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AI Literacy Mindset

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Why?

Students who understand how AI works are more ethical and less tempted to exploit it.

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AI Literacy Mindset

    • Teach about data training and bias
      • Use examples showing how bias creeps into AI-generated text or images
    • Discuss AI’s limitations
      • Help students understand “hallucinations,” false citations, and the illusion of objectivity
    • Highlight environmental impacts
      • Talk about energy use and carbon costs of large models—connecting ethics to real-world consequences.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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AI Literacy Mindset

What Does this look like?

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Process vs. Product

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Why?

Students who feel seen, supported, and part of a shared ethical culture have the freedom to experiment.

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Process vs. Product

    • Provide time and space for failure and revision
      • Foster a classroom culture where mistakes are viewed as essential to developing learning, resilience, problem-solving skills, and a genuine love of discovery.
    • Open up choices and options when possible
      • Design opportunities for inquiry and exploration, to pursue topics that genuinely spark their interest and motivation.
    • Celebrate student ownership
      • Acknowledge and highlight moments when students take initiative, show creativity, or push beyond expectations.

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Process vs. Product

What Does this look like?

    • Evaluate process as part of assessment
      • Daily Evaluation Rubric
    • Integrate meaningful reflection
    • Consider identity, authenticity, and ownership in course design and student reflection

Daily Evaluation Rubric

Power Standards for 10.0202 Radio and TV Broadcasting

Employability Skills

  • You are present, giving an honest effort every day for every project and event.
  • You follow the directions of the instructor and remain on task in class and at shoots.
  • All deadlines are met.
  • All equipment is returned correctly, including cables rolled and bags stored, etc.
  • You use Reason, Respect, and Responsibility to guide your actions.
  • You take initiative and a proactive approach every day.

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Camera work

  • Correct camera settings are applied.
  • The correct color, focus, framing, and movements are used to capture the desired shot(s).

Lighting

  • The use of Natural and Artificial lighting is done correctly.
  • When using additional lighting set up is applied correctly.
  • Camera Settings, including but not limited to, white balance and ND Filter are correct.

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Monitor Wisely

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Why?

Thoughtful systems can help prevent misuse, but human evaluation should always take precedence.

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Monitor Wisely

    • Identify high-risk assignments and alert students
      • Provide warnings as well as extra support before students begin assignments that are likely to have high AI misuse
    • Use a holistic approach to detect AI
      • No AI detection tools, extensions, or plans are foolproof
      • No teacher is right 100% of the time when it comes to detecting AI
    • AI detection as conversation starters, not punishers
      • Use results to open dialogue rather than accuse.
    • You don’t have to chase every suspicion
      • Where is your time best spent?

Presentation link:

bit.ly/proactiveteaching

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Monitor Wisely

What Does this look like?

    • Use push notifications to promote better choices
      • Intelligent Agents
    • Open dialogue when AI misuse is suspected
      • Sample Messages
    • Equity issues with AI detectors and usage

Getting Ready for Unit 5

Hi STUDENT,

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I see you’ve just completed the 4.6 assignment. Great work! You’re really moving along.

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Soon, you’ll reach 5.2, “Ishwari’s Children.” It’s one of my favorite stories, but it can be tricky. Some students try to use AI tools like ChatGPT to summarize it or answer the questions. That’s a bad idea. The story’s figurative language, cultural context, and nuanced character interactions make it easy for AI to hallucinate or misrepresent details. I can always tell when that happens, and it happens a lot with this assignment.

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If you need help, just reach out! I’m happy to make a short video guide or jump on Zoom to talk through this story.

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When you read this, send me a quick reply and tell me your favorite story from Unit 4!

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~Mrs. M

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Consider This

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Keep these points in mind as you prepare to dive in to proactive AI instruction.

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Consider This

    • Choose One or Two Ideas to Start: Focus on a couple of strategies that resonate with you and implement them well, rather than attempting everything at once.
    • AI is Continuously Evolving: Commit to exploring new tools, asking questions, and sharing discoveries with colleagues and students alike.
    • Honor District Policies: Ensure your classroom AI practices comply with your school or district’s official policies and procedures.
    • Academic Integrity Isn’t a New Challenge: Shortcuts didn’t start with ChatGPT. They started with passing notes, copying homework, coughing during tests and ‘borrowing’ ideas.

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Resources

    • Michigan Virtual’s AI Lab: All things AI, backed by years of Michigan Virtual Research. Find resources for Investigating AI, Implementing AI, and Innovating AI
    • AI For Students: Videos, guides, and resources made just for students
    • Templates Folder: Templates and examples to help you create your own AI Classroom Guidelines, AI Teacher Pledge, or open dialogue with students about suspected AI misuse.

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Questions?

I’m always happy to chat! Contact me at any time.

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emcguckin@michiganvirtual.org

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AI and Fair Use Disclosure Statement

    • All icons used in this document, except for the Michigan Virtual logo and AI Summit logo, were created with the assistance of ChatGPT’s image generation tools. The written content is original and authored by the writer. A version of this presentation was created in July 2025 with the author and Bruce Vander Kolk. ChatGPT was consulted during the drafting process for idea development and refinement, but all final wording, structure, and revisions were completed independently by the writer.

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    • Information contained in any external links not owned or created by the author is shared solely for educational purposes. “Mrs. M’s AI Guidelines- AP Lang” on slide 10, “Mrs. M’s AI Pledge” on slide 13, “Voices in our Community” assignment on slide 16, “Sample Messages” on slide 25, and “Templates Folder” on slide 28 are created and owned by the author. “Daily Evaluation Rubric” on slide 22 is created by Sean McGuckin and shared with permission. All content linked materials elsewhere are the property of their respective creators.